In the past, sulfone condensation has been carried out with acid derivatives having an activated leaving group on the carbon atom. See German Offlegungschrift 2,202,689, Aug. 3, 1972 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,882, Apr. 16, 1974. However, this procedure has not been advantageous in the production of vitamin A alcohol or esters thereof since the product formed is a vitamin A acid derivative. These vitamin A acid derivatives require various reaction steps to form vitamin A alcohol or derivatives thereof. The use of these reaction steps involve additional expense and loss of yield which make the sulfone condensation not commercially attractive in the production of vitamin A alcohol or esters thereof. Therefore, a simple and economic procedure has been desired for directly converting a sulfone to an alcohol or derivative thereof such as vitamin A alcohol or esters thereof. Such a procedure would eliminate the various steps necessary to convert vitamin A acid to vitamin A alcohol and the economic disadvantages inherent in these steps.